Impact
by GRINtelligencer
Summary: Alfeegi is pushed off a balcony after witnessing as plans to kill the Dragon Lord to keep him from stopping the plotters. Laying badly hurt and no one knowing where he is its a race against time to see who finds him first. Can a assassination be stopped?


Impact 

**Dane Soar**

**Rating: **T

**Summery: **Alfeegi is pushed off a balcony after witnessing as plans to kill the Dragon Lord. Laying wounded, with no one knowing were he is, it's a race against time to see who finds him first and what will happen to the Dragon Lord.

**Characters/Pairings:** Alfeegi, Kai-stern, Ruwalk, Tetheus, Lykouleon, Raseleane, Cernozura

**Comments:** This was supposed to be just a little angst thing for Alfeegi, and then it turned into this. At the same time, I really wanted to do something court intrigue thing like Cairnsy's (sp?) "Brains and Brawn". A fusion resulted.

It's possible I might do a sequel to this, but we'll see.

Give a big hand to my editor, who had to pick through my bad verb tenses on really short notice for me. Don't know what I'd do with out her.

**Spoilers: **The officers and some stuff about them, maybe a few facts about the Dragon Lord.

**Focus: **Falling and landing, plots and assassination

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Alfeegi watched the stars as they glowed in the sky with ragged tatters of clouds blocking some of them. A sickle moon shone down a weak light onto the roofs of the castle.

There were a hundred things he could have been doing right now, other than laying on his back on a rooftop. Reading reports, checking account books, even attending the royal ball, held in honor of the Slavin King's visit, that he can hear going on above him, the noise drifting out from the balconies.

And Alfeegi really would rather be doing any of these things. Really. There was just one problem.

He doesn't think he can move.

On reflection, Alfeegi supposed that he should probably have been a little more suspicious of the diplomats from Cathla, but Kai-stern had warned them to keep an eye on the Octavians, and since he was the Officer of Foreign Affairs, who was Alfeegi to disagree with him? So when the Cathla diplomat had bowed to him and inquired if he would like to stand out on the balcony away from the hot ballroom with him and his wife, he hadn't been as suspicious as he should have been, what with the rumors of a plot to assassinate Lord Lykouleon.

But no, he had, after all, still had one eye on the Octavians, and the Cathlans were bright and lively people, light of hair and skin, who were often fascinating to talk to.

Leaning on the low balcony, Alfeegi had talked animatedly with one diplomat about sums and accounts. Then out of the very corner of his eye he had seen someone approach the other diplomat.

Still nodding in agreement, Alfeegi had quickly glanced over to get a good look at the newcomer. It was a red haired man who bowed formally to the Cathla diplomat and said something so softly that Alfeegi could only catch a few words. But these were enough to make the Chief Secretary prick up his ears. "In your opinion" and "best time to" might have been part of an innocent conversation, however, Alfeegi doubted it.

As much as would have liked to hear more of that conversation, it would be difficult to do so without being obvious. Better to bring his suspicions to Tetheus and let him deal with it.

Shifting his gaze over so the diplomat was out of his view, Alfeegi replied to the other diplomat, and then made a polite excuse about the lateness of the hour and that he had some things to attend to tonight.

Thus he missed the look that went between the Cathlans.

It had taken two pushes to send him over the railing. One to put him off balance, and another to tip him over. He remembers falling, but the impact was thankfully wiped from his mind, although waking up was sadly crystal clear in his memories.

It had hurt quite a lot, was still hurting now, a sharp jab each time he ventured to breathe, and a duller deeper throb that promised more injuries inside than he could know. The tiles of the roof he had landed on were slightly ridged, and they had scraped his back badly, he could feel himself bleeding, but there was little he could do.

Slowly he took inventory. He thought he felt one leg twitch when he ordered it too, but the other one he wasn't so sure about and the same for his arms. Well that was his extremities accounted for…sort of. Better not to think about what a mess his chest was bound to be in, he knew a lot of his ribs were broken, maybe even all of them, judging from the pain each time he breathed.

If they went into his lungs, he knew he was as good as dead.

Not that he probably wasn't as good as dead already.

Combined with that, was the fact that no one had even noticed that he wasn't there yet.

And why should they? His fellow Officers were all busy trying to find the plotters who were after the Lord's life. Both Ruwalk and Kai-stern were much better at diplomacy than him, and Tetheus had Security managed all on his own. When it came to formal events, Alfeegi always felt a tad unnecessary.

He was an accountant, a secretary, not skilled in the arts of espionage or intrigue!

After this short bout of self-pity, Alfeegi decided that it was time to try a word on the off chance that someone might hear him from the balcony.

Alfeegi was positive now that the red haired man was some sort of assassin; it was far too clear. Of course, now it wasn't exactly possible to inform anyone, ironically.

Well, back to saying something. It would have to be short, not to many syllables, and to the point. He decided on 'help'.

Taking as deep a breath as he dared, and opened his mouth. "Mrelf." Was all that came out.

The effort cost him however; pain, the new sharp type, coursed through him. Alfeegi's finger clenched as he spasmed, then coughed bloody strings onto his formal shirt. When it finally abated, he tried to breathe as carefully as he could and decided talking was out of the question.

However, lying here was something he couldn't really do, he had to warn someone in time to save Lord Lykouleon from whatever danger loomed.

It would be a hard thing to do, considering the circumstances.

The situation called for a sigh…sadly, Alfeegi didn't think that would be a good idea right now.

**----------------------------------------------**

Glancing around the room again, Ruwalk bit the inside of his cheek. Something wasn't right about tonight, his gut was telling him something was missing. After excusing himself from the man he was talking to, he drifted toward where Tetheus was leaning against the wall, snagging two glasses of wine on the way, he made sure to catch Kai-stern's eye and tilt his head toward Tetheus.

Kai-stern, ever the diplomat, nodded the tiniest bit, then quickly finished his conversation. Meandering around the room a bit, Kai-stern gradually drifted over to were the other Officers were standing.

"What is it?" murmured Tetheus as he took the wineglass from Ruwalk.

"Something's off, but I can't quite place what it is." the Yellow Dragon Officer replied also in an undertone.

Kai-stern sipped from his glass. "Agreed, but like you, Ruwalk, I can't quite put my finger on it."

"There is something wrong here, the patterns of people are off." Tetheus commented shortly, not known for his sociability. He spent most occasions like this simply standing by and watching the crowds move and was thus the first one to notice things like this.

"Now that you mention it," Kai-stern frowned very subtly, his hand in his pocket fingering with his glasses that he didn't wear on formal occasions. "I haven't seen Alfeegi for quite a while this evening, did he tell you he was turning in early, Tetheus?" As the Secretary of Security, it was an unspoken rule between them that they had to let Tetheus know if they were leaving the ballroom, that way it was easier for the Black Dragon Officer to keep track of them and the Dragon Lord and Lady.

But he shook his head.

"Odd," remarked Ruwalk. "he's usually rather easy to spot."

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, he might just be talking to someone out of sight. Ruwalk, why don't you look on the left side of the ballroom, I'll look on the right." They set to it, leaving Tetheus behind to observe and see if he could spot him on his own.

Drifting around on their sides Ruwalk and Kai-stern talked and sipped wine, all the while keeping their eyes peeled forever for a flash of aqua hair or a glint of a gold eye.

But when the three gathered together again, their answers were all negative. None of them had seen hide nor hair of Alfeegi.

"Worried now?" Ruwalk raised an eyebrow at Kai-stern.

"As a matter of fact, yes I am. I'd hate to think that something could have happened to him, but all other solutions are proving themselves to be false."

Tetheus, meanwhile, had only been listening to his fellow Officers with half an ear. He'd been trying to think, not an especially fast process. Not to say the Black Dragon Officer was stupid, but when it came to minds, his was not as lightning fast as his fellow Officers, however when all the pieces clicked into place, Tetheus was always right.

And his mind had just clicked.

"When I last saw Alfeegi," he said, interrupting Ruwalk and Kai-stern. "he was standing on the balcony, over there, talking to a Cathla diplomat. After that, the Queen of Atregieth spilled wine on the diplomat from Octavian and almost caused a war. When I looked back to the balcony he was gone. Though at the time, I had simply assumed he had moved, however…" Tetheus shrugged.

"That sounds like a start," mused Ruwalk.

"Well, shall we move to the balcony?" asked Kai-stern, and in spite of the possible crisis his eyes were bright as he fanned himself with a hand dramatically. "I fear it has become too hot in here for my liking."

And they moved off, through the crowds, not directly for their destination, but on a slightly meandering course.

Lord Lykouleon caught Tetheus' eye knowing that if his Officers were gathering together, something was afoot, and raised an eyebrow. Tetheus simply shook his head; there was no need to worry the Dragon Lord until they knew what was going on. Hopefully by then, Alfeegi would be found.

**----------------------------------------------**

"Sadly, it is glaringly obvious that Alfeegi is not here." said Ruwalk with a sigh, leaning back on the rail. He pressed him wineglass to his forehead to feel its coolness; it was hot in the ballroom.

"But there has to be something here," Kai-stern paced the balcony. "he was last seen here, there should be some sort of sign were he went from this place!" The Blue Dragon Officer was fast becoming frustrated. He probably would have gone on ranting for quite a while, but Kai-stern heard something that made him freeze.

"What is it?" asked Ruwalk.

"I heard something, a cry or a whimper, or something like that. Didn't you hear it?"

"Well, I was listening to you and…Tetheus? What's the matter?"

Tetheus sniffed again. "I believe I smell blood."

"Where from?"

He moved over to the rail. "From down…there." His voice drifted off as he looked directly down over the balcony.

Ruwalk only remembered Tetheus' face getting that expression one other time.

That was the time when the Black Dragon Officer had looked down at the arrow that had suddenly sprouted from his chest and said in a perfectly calm voice. "Lord Lykouleon, I think we are under attack."

And this time Ruwalk knew that it was bad. Almost not wanting to, he asked. "What do you see?"

Seeming at a lost for words, Tetheus only pointed downward. The other two looked, and drew in gasps of surprise at the same time.

They had found Alfeegi.

He was laying on a side roof quite a ways down, limbs lying at wrong angles like a marionette whose strings had been cut. It looked like he could have been breathing, but from distance, it was hard to tell. The tiles must have scrapped his back because there was blood pooling around his shoulders. Alfeegi looked too pale, more doll like than one of the Dragon Clan in the moonlight.

Kai-stern swore, colorfully and fluently. "Damnit, Ruwalk, you were right, there was reason to worry. I really hate it when you're right."

"He looks badly hurt," said Ruwalk. "can we get down to him?"

"I could jump, but there's not enough room to land without stepping on him," replied Tetheus.

"That's a side roof down there," Kai-stern mused. "that means there's probably a room with a window that opens onto it. Cernozura might know."

**----------------------------------------------**

The Castle's Administrator proved easy to locate, she was giving instructions to a maid in an outer hall near the ballroom. Finishing her instructions she patiently listened to their question.

"That side roof?" she said. "Yes of course I know, I can show you if you'd like."

"Yes, please." replied Kai-stern. "It's important."

She bobbed a curtsy and led them off, through some corridors and down a long flight of stairs.

"How far down do you think this is?" Ruwalk muttered to the other two.

"At least two stories, enough to hurt." Replied Kai-stern.

"Here it is." Cernozura opened a door. "No one uses this sitting room because it's down here and it doesn't have a very good view. The side roof is through any of those windows." She nodded to the three large windows on the opposite wall. "Sometimes when we run out of room we spread sheets on that roof to dry, it's mostly flat and…" The Officers had already gone over to the window, Ruwalk pulled the lever to open the bottom half of the big window. They were in the process of stepping through.

She caught sight of something out in the night that the darkness had previously obscured. "Is something wrong?" a horribly thought uncured to her. "Did someone fall? Are they alright? I can fetch a doctor if needed."

Reaching back through the window Kai-stern put a hand on her shoulder to silence her. "Yes get a doctor, and find some bandages too while you're at it."

And while Cernozura was curious, her sense of duty was stronger than her curiosity and she did as she was told, leaving.

"How bad is it?" asked Kai-stern.

Both Tetheus and Ruwalk were already crouching by Alfeegi, Ruwalk who was feeling the White Dragon Officer's arm for breaks, sighed. "I'm no doctor, but it's not good, even I can tell that much. He's definitely broken some ribs, and that leg too, by the angle it's at. I'm not sure about this arm though."

He felt the arm higher up and suddenly Alfeegi cried out weakly, his eyes flying open. Then he coughed and blood came up.

"Alfeegi!" Ruwalk set his arm down carefully and put a hand on Alfeegi's forehead. "Don't worry, it's us, just lie still and try to breathe as deeply as you can."

Alfeegi shook his head a bit then slowly and haltingly raised the arm opposite the one that had been picked up. He grabbed at the nearest person. Tetheus remained perfectly still as fingers sunk into his hair.

"…Ru…alk?" he whispered.

"No, I'm over here, that's Tetheus."

He nodded weakly, and then tried to speak again.

"What?" asked Kai-stern. "Sorry Alfeegi, we can't hear you, I know it's hard but try to speak louder, if it's important."

More words that couldn't be heard.

"Who was it that did this?" pressed Ruwalk. "We need to know."

Tetheus winced as his hair was yanked on, pulling his head down 'til it was inches away from Alfeegi's mouth. "… Cath…la…dip…diplo…dip…"

"Diplomats?" Kai-stern filled in, having also brought his ear down.

Alfeegi nodded. "…a red…haired man…the Dra…on…Lord…in dan…ger…" Then he broke off into coughing again, more blood coming up.

"Danger?" repeated Ruwalk. "You've been pushed off a balcony and that's all you have to say?"

Again Tetheus' mind clicked. "They would have wanted all four of us out of the room before they tried an assassination attempt." he stood, and Alfeegi's hand fell, still clutching back strands of hair. "This was a distraction."

"The Cathlans mean us harm? I was thinking the Octavians." Kai-stern mused.

After glancing up at the sky, Tetheus took off his long coat and draped it over Alfeegi. "I'll deal with this, try to get him inside, it looks like it might rain." And then he was off.

Ruwalk took Tetheus' big coat and spread it flat on the roof saying to Kia-stern. "Here, if you take his feet, I'll take his shoulders and we can get him onto this so that we can lift that."

Blinking suddenly Kai-stern looked up. "I think I just felt a rain drop."

Alfeegi uttered what could have been a strangled groan.

**----------------------------------------------**

Tetheus strode down the corridor, not exactly running, for it would be very bad if the Secretary of Security was seen running, but walking very quickly indeed. Every other Dragon Fighter he passed got a nod from him and followed after. Those left on watch raised eyebrows at each other, they knew their superior well, and from his face, something was happening.

By the time Tetheus reached the doors off the ballroom there were a dozen Fighters at his back, most of them jogging just to keep up with him.

Under normal circumstances Tetheus could, and would, have used a smaller and lesser entrance to enter by, but that would take time, and he had a feeling he had very little of that to waste tonight.

Thus Tetheus swung open the great doors of the ballroom materialized sword already in hand and strode in. Heads turned toward him and inwardly he winced, he was going against every instinct of his and making a scene. But he ignored that for now and looked to the Dragon Lord, the most likely to be in danger in the room.

He was just in time to see a man with red hair come up behind the Lord and reach into his ornate formal sleeve, drawing out a dagger. He drew his hand back to strike down on the unaware Lykouleon from behind.

The red haired man saw Tetheus come bursting in, and brought his hand down. He should have known better. Tetheus had his sword in his hand. And when that happened, anything was possible.

In a throw that would become legendary later on, Tetheus hefted his sword, swung back and threw it like a javelin. It flew the length of the ballroom, past the Dragon Lord, and hit the red haired assassin with such force he flew through the air and pinned him to the wall.

There was no need to ask whether the man had been slain or not, one look was enough to banish any doubts.

In the dead silence that followed, everyone seemed frozen, barring, and notably so, the Dragon Lord. He stood, and moved to were the body was pinned to the wall, still clutching the dagger even in death. Easily he pried it from the corpse's fingers and held it up inspecting the make of the blade.

In a clear voice he said. "May the diplomats from Octavian and Cathla come forward?"

The Octavians came forward with no argument but the Cathlans had to be hustled up to them from the corner they were in by a pair of grim faced Dragon Fighter.

Smiling amiably at them, with a smile that had very little warmth in it, Lykouleon said. "This blade is of Octavian make, however, I remember quite clearly seen this man in the Cathla group when they arrived." he looked at the four diplomats evenly. "Quite a puzzle. To which of you does the assassin belong, or is it both of you?  
For a man who had almost been murdered a few scant moments ago, he was remarkably composed.

The two countries diplomats uttered phrases of denial and innocence, almost in tandem. The diplomat from Octavian, a typical Octavian greasy and easy to dislike, started bowing.

"My Lord," he raised his voice to cover the Cathla diplomats'. "we have ever been friends and alleys of your Kingdom and monarchy. We would never dream of…of…" he spluttered on for a bit but it was hard to tell what he said.

The Lord raised an eyebrow and let them splutter themselves into silence. Turning to address the ballroom he smiled. "My deepest apologies but I think that given the circumstances I am going to have end this event and bid you all to you beds. The hour is very late, and I'm sure many of you are very weary. There will be more soldiers posted throughout the castle for your safety, if aught becomes amiss, please inform them." The formal speech unfroze many of the guests, they were hardened diplomats after all, and stranger things had happened at formal occasions.

There were some protests from the assembled masses, but many of them were a bit shaken and didn't complain overmuch, and little by little they drifted out, kings, queens, diplomats, and ambassadors, all murmuring among themselves a bit uneasily.

When the last group had finally left Lykouleon sighed. "Please escort these gentleman to sitting room, but have then kept under guard until we can sort this out." Four Dragon Fighters saluted and took the diplomats away, ignoring the protests.

The Dragon Queen Raseleane rose from her seat. "The innocent countries diplomats will be greatly offended." she pointed out; she had been sitting right next to her husband, so close that some of the assassin's blood had splashed onto her cheek. As she reached up to wipe it away, her fingers did not shake, too much.

Lykouleon took her hand comfortingly. "I suppose we will have to just formally apologize to them, but for now, I don't think it can be helped. Tetheus, how did you know about assassin?" he asked him.

"The other Officers and I noticed Alfeegi was missing when we found him he was badly hurt. He says the culprits were the Cathlans if that is any help."

"Yes it is. And Alfeegi, what exactly happened to him?" Raseleane asked.

"He was pushed off the balcony by an unknown advisory," the Dragon Lady put a hand over he mouth at Tetheus' words.

She turned to Lykouleon. "We must go and see him, if only to confirm his story and see how he is."

"You're right, of course, my dear, we do need to get to the bottom of this before too long." He handed the dagger off to a Dragon Fighter. "Please take care not to lose this, can someone take us to were Alfeegi is?"

As they were lead away from the ballroom Tetheus strode over and wrenched his blade from the body of the assassin. It slumped to the floor as he dematerialized his sword. Now once there was no one really watching him he sighed and put a hand to his head. That assassin had been so, _so_ very close…

Then he pulled himself together. "Cover this body for now, we'll move it later." Duty first.

**----------------------------------------------**

When they entered the sitting room a few stories below, the doctor had come, and was in the process of splinting a flinching Alfeegi's leg. An elf sat crossed-legged by his head her hands on his shoulders, poring her power into the White Dragon Officer.

Kai-stern stood as the Dragon Lord and Lady entered. "Did Tetheus…"

Raising a hand Lykouleon cut him off. "He arrived before the assassin could strike. He mentioned that something has happened to Alfeegi?"

Coming back into the room with Cernozura, both their arms full of bandages, she and Ruwalk dumped them down on the floor.

"Do you think that that'll be enough?" He asked the doctor, who nodded shortly but didn't look up from his work.

"Oh, hello, Lykouleon." Ruwalk greeted his old friend. "Alfeegi took a bit of a tumble from a balcony, but I think he'll be okay," he grimaced, "maybe."

Raseleane knelt down beside Alfeegi impatiently sweeping her full skirts out of the way. Carefully, as if she feared it would break, she took his hand. "Alfeegi, are you awake?"

Copper gold eyes slit open, and there was a weak nod.

Lykouleon joined his wife kneeling as the doctor finished on the leg splint, moving so he could start poking and prodding at Alfeegi's chest for broken ribs. "I know this is the last thing you want to do," he said." "but it's very important we know the truth of this." Another tiny nod.

"A red haired man tired to kill me not long ago, but he was stopped by Tetheus in time. Tetheus says you told him about it and said the Cathla diplomats were to blame. Are completely sure, Alfeegi, we have to hear it from you before he can do anything."

Looking his Lord straight in the eyes, Alfeegi nodded again.

Getting to his feet, Lykouleon held his hand out to help his wife to her own. As she took his hand he told his Chief Secretary. "I have no reason to doubt your word, and I am sure you know what you're talking about. However this means that there is much to attend to. Sleep for now, Alfeegi.

Kai-stern? Could you come with us? We have a kingdom to formally apologize to and another to charge with an attempted assassination. I believe we will need a bit of diplomacy. Ruwalk, your presence might smooth things some, if you don't mind?"

"'Course not, Lykouleon, there's not much I can do here," responded Ruwalk, as Kai-stern groaned at the thought of dealing with more diplomats after a whole night of them, but both followed the Dragon Lord and Lady from the room.

None of them found early beds that night.

**----------------------------------------------**

Eventually, all was made well in the end.

Kai-stern accompanied the Cathla diplomats back to their kingdom, along with Tetheus and half a dozen Dragon Fighters, to find the reason behind the clumsy assassination attempt. They were also to ensure that nothing of the sort would happen again.

A month later, a very smug Kai-stern and a very tired and harried looking Tetheus returned with a letter promising loyalty and friendship with Draqueen, and tales of several more assassination attempts while they were there.

Tetheus, it was noted, had a very noticeable limp on his return.

**----------------------------------------------**

And, it being almost a month since his fall, Alfeegi was sitting at his desk, frantically trying to catch up on paperwork that he hadn't been able to do while he was bedridden.

Technically, he should have still been in bed, but if he stayed there any longer while he knew the paperwork was piling up, he would go mad.

Reaching for a stack of paper near the edge of his desk, he winced, then pressed a hand to his chest that was still bandaged under his shirt and _still_ ached in a manner that made moving occasionally painful. The elf that had worked on his leg had done her best, but it was still tender and healing.

So he wasn't a hundred percent, but he was, in his opinion, certainly able to work.

Sadly, everyone else did not share that opinion in the castle, who if they caught him here, would probably send him from his office, back to bed and to more insanity for him. Luckily that hadn't happened yet, so he might actually get some work done.

Alfeegi regarded the three reports that now sat on his desk carefully, not really sure what to do with them. They were by Ruwalk, Kai-stern, and Tetheus respectively, all three of his fellow Officers.

There was something wrong with all three, Ruwalk's was written sloppily, Kai-stern hadn't made his detailed enough, and Tetheus had forgotten a few things.

He stared at them until his eyes crossed and the letters swam on the pages. Under normal circumstances, they would have gone straight into his rewrite box, but Alfeegi did remember that they were the ones who had first noticed he was missing.

With a sigh of defeat, he put the report in his read and accepted box.

Just once, he supposed, couldn't hurt.

**END**

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End file.
